GENERALOne of the top prospects for the 2006 MLB Draft • Semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, Dick Howser Trophy, Roger Clemens Award and Brooks Wallace Award • Collegiate Baseball first-team All-America • Carolina career leader in strikeouts with 300 • Also third in Tar Heels history with 26 wins.

AS A JUNIOR (2006)Recognized as a first-team Louisville Slugger All-America by Collegiate Baseball • ACC Pitcher of the Year and earned first-team All-ACC honors • Won 12 of 15 starts and sports a 12-2 record • Has allowed 26 earned runs in 103.2 innings for a 2.26 ERA • Fanned career-best 108 batters and walked just 35 • Struck out 10-plus batters four times this season and eight times in his career • Gone six-plus innings in 14 of 15 starts and has worked at least seven innings in nine of his last 14 outings • Owns four shutout performances of six or more innings this season and has allowed just four extra-base hits all year (only one home run) • 5-1 with a 1.27 ERA in six starts against nationally-ranked opponents in the regular season • 8-1 with a 1.94 ERA in ACC regular season play • Owns the Carolina career strikeout record with 300 and is third with 26 victories • Named ACC Pitcher of the Week March 27, April 3 and May 22 • Picked up first career postseason win versus Winthrop June 3 after allowing four runs and striking out six in eight-plus innings • Allowed just two hits over eight innings to beat Boston College May 18 to become Carolina's first 11-game winner since 1995 • Fanned 11 Eagle batters to set the school career strikeout mark and earned ACC Pitcher of the Week honors following this start • Allowed just one earned and struck out eight at No. 9 Virginia May 12 but suffered first loss of the season • Became the Tar Heels' first 10-game winner since 2000 with a victory at Duke April 28 • Allowed just three runs on five hits over 8.1 innings against No. 7 NC State April 21 • Gave up just five hits and no earned runs over eight innings versus Virginia Tech April 14 • Picked up win No. 7 after allowing just two earned runs on five hits over six innings at No. 14 Miami April 7 • Held No. 1 Florida State scoreless on four hits over seven innings March 31 • Struck out nine Seminoles and had just one ball hit in the air en route to the fourth conference pitching honor in his career • Also named ACC POW after striking out a career-best 13 batters over seven shutout innings against No. 4 Georgia Tech March 24 • Allowed just four hits and one walk versus the Jackets • Allowed just one unearned run and three hits in eight innings at Wake Forest March 12 • Notched 10 strikeouts over seven innings in a win over Purdue March 5 • Struck out 11 in seven shutout innings in a win against George Washington Feb. 26 • Allowed just two hits with none coming after the third inning • Went six shutout innings with nine strikeouts in a season-opening win over Seton Hall Feb. 19 • Surpassed the 200-strikeout mark for his career against the Pirates.

AS A SOPHOMORE (2005)One of the nation's top starting pitchers and Carolina's Friday starter for much of the season • Earned second-team All-ACC honors for the second straight season • Posted an 8-4 record and a 2.98 earned run average in 96.2 innings • Made 16 starts • Struck out 104 batters, which ranks as the seventh-best total in Tar Heel history and the most since 1995 • Limited opponents to a .230 batting average • Led the ACC with 9.68 strikeouts per nine innings and was fifth in innings per start (6.04), sixth in opponent batting average and seventh in ERA • Issued 52 walks and hit 19 batters, including seven against Virginia April 1 • Semifinalist for the Xanthus-Dick Howser Trophy and named to watch lists for the Brooks Wallace Award, Roger Clemens Award and Golden Spikes Award • Named preseason second-team All-America by Baseball America and preseason third-team All-America by Collegiate Baseball • Also selected midseason second-team All-America by Baseball America • Earned ACC Pitcher of the Week honors Feb. 28 and March 21 • Carried no-hitters into the sixth inning versus both Birmingham Southern and Clemson • Allowed only one earned run over his first three starts - wins over Appalachian State, UNC Wilmington and Birmingham Southern - and gave up just three earned runs over his first seven starts • Opened the season 7-0 • Fanned a career-high 12 batters in a no-decision versus Arizona State March 4 • Followed a win at Virginia Tech with 11 strikeouts and just two hits allowed over seven innings at Clemson March 18 • Struck out eight and did not allow an earned run in a March 25 win over Wake Forest • Fanned 10 and surrendered just two hits over seven shutout innings at Maryland April 8 • Struck out nine over seven innings to earn final win of the season against Duke April 22 • Pitched well in losses to Wake Forest at the ACC Tournament and to Florida in his hometown of Gainesville in the NCAA Regional. Summer 2005: Pitched with the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod League • Named the College Summer Player of the Year by Baseball America and rated as the No. 1 prospect in the Cape by the publication • Selected by scouts as the winner of the Robert A. McNeece Outstanding Pro Prospect Award and shared the league's B.F.C. Whitehouse Outstanding Pitching Award • Named to the league's All-Star Game for the second straight season • Was 6-0 with a 1.65 ERA • Fanned 66 batters in just 49 innings • Made eight starts.

AS A FRESHMAN (2004)One of the country's top freshman hurlers • Picked up second-team All-ACC honors and was named to Baseball America's All-Freshman second team • Led the Tar Heel starters with a 2.93 earned run average and posted a 6-3 record • Fanned a team-best 88 batters in 89.0 innings • Limited the opposition to a .202 batting average, which led the ACC • Made 15 starts and three relief appearances on the season • Ranked third in the ACC in ERA and fifth with 8.90 strikeouts per nine innings • Fired six shutout innings versus Gardner-Webb in his first collegiate start on February 25 • Also tossed 5.2 shutout innings versus UNC Asheville on March 9 • Struggled with his control early in the season but made the jump to the weekend rotation for the California series (March 14) • Allowed just one earned run and struck out eight in 6.1 innings against Clemson on April 18 • Tossed seven shutout innings at Duke on April 25 • Fanned a season-best 11 batters and gave up just three hits in eight shutout innings at No. 2 Miami on May 16 • Threw his first career complete game, allowing just two runs and striking out seven, against Duke in the ACC Tournament on May 28 • Recorded six games with at least six strikeouts. Summer 2004: Pitched for the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod League • Named the league's No. 1 Major League prospect by Baseball America • Went 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA and earned a spot in the league's all-star game • Fanned 48 batters in 40 innings • In a game called by fog, struck out 12 batters in four innings • Struck out the side on 15 pitches in the all-star game.

BUCHHOLZ HIGH SCHOOLThird round (63rd overall) draft pick of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays out of Buchholz High School in Gainesville, Fla. • Florida Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior • Also earned preseason and postseason high school All-America honors in 2003 • First-team all-state choice as a senior after earning third-team honors his junior season • Honor Roll student.

PERSONAL Andrew Mark Miller is the son of David and Kim Miller • Born May 21, 1985, in Gainesville, Fla. • Majoring in business administration • Favorite athlete is Maria Sharapova • Favorite pro teams are the Florida Marlins and Jacksonville Jaguars • Has modeled his game after Tony Stewart • Favorite movie is "Days of Thunder" • Lists "The DaVinci Code" as his favorite book • Enjoys playing golf • Favorite food is steak and favorite way to pass time on bus trips is by playing Uno • Uncle Dan Miller played football at the University of Miami and in the USFL and NFL.

This spring, Friday nights have been "Miller Time" at the University of North Carolina.

Since the heart of Atlantic Coast Conference baseball action began in late March, left-hander Andrew Miller has been taking the mound for the No. 1-ranked Tar Heels to the tune of a 10-0 record and a 1.91 ERA.

The 20-year-old Miller, who will turn 21 on May 21, has been consistently kicking off the ACC weekend series for his team in fine fashion, as UNC has won all but one weekend series -- the club fell, 2-1, to Georgia Tech -- and has swept the last three for a 40-9 overall record through May 11.

"Andrew Miller has just had a terrific season for us," said Tar Heels coach Mike Fox. "Everyone knows how talented he is, but this year, he's really put it all together. Every start, he's given us a chance to win."

With one non-conference game remaining and two ACC weekend series still on the board -- at Virginia this weekend and home to close against Boston College -- the immediate future looks bright for the Tar Heels' hopes in the upcoming NCAA postseason.

But if Miller and company have their eyes on the College World Series prize, there are many other folks who think the prize is Miller himself.

Armed with command of a sinking fastball in the low-90s and a power curveball that could be his best pitch, the 6-foot-6 southpaw is expected to be one of the top picks in the upcoming First-Year Player Draft on June 6.

The Kansas City Royals have the first pick, followed by Colorado, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. And while there is no clear-cut choice for the top selection, there are at least a few folks who feel that it should be "Miller Time" as soon as the draft begins.

"In my opinion, he's the guy who should be the consensus No. 1 pick among the pitchers," said one scouting director. "He's the guy they should pick. He's really separated himself from the other pitchers."

Miller pretty much has it all.

"He's a dominating talent, physically and mentally," the director said. "He loves to compete, loves to challenge hitters, and should be at the forefront of a Major League rotation in time."

Draft day will not be a new experience for Miller.

Miller spent the day of the 2003 Draft at home with friends and family in Gainesville, Fla., watching the draft via the Internet.

There had been some talk that he could go in the first round out of Buchholz High School, but clubs knew that they would have to pay dearly to lure him away from North Carolina, where he'd been accepted into the business school.

The Devil Rays took a chance on him in the third round, but when the first day of classes rolled around, Miller was the highest unsigned pick from that year's draft class.

"It was kind of exciting to go through the process, but by the time the draft was over, I pretty much knew I would be coming here," said Miller. "I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen, so it wasn't a crushing blow."

Miller wasn't the only one with a vested interest in his own draft fate.

Tar Heels coach Mike Fox was also following the draft on his computer, waiting through those first few rounds for Miller's name to be called.

"Even when he dropped through the first couple of rounds, we still weren't sure," Fox recalled. "It's not like every time another name popped up we went, 'Yes!' We felt like we had a reasonable chance to get him to enroll here, but you just never know."

In fact, Fox didn't know for sure if he'd be able to pencil the big left-hander's name into his 2004 rotation until Aug. 28, when classes began.

"You're not 100 percent sure until they step foot in that first class," he said. "We didn't escort him to his first class -- I refused to do that. ... But I did call to make sure he was there. Then I was allowed to go, 'Yes!'"

Three years later, Fox and company still have a lot to smile about. In his first two seasons, Miller went 14-7 with a combined 2.96 ERA, striking out 192 batters in 185 2/3 innings while walking 100.

And while Miller admits to following the careers of some of the similar pitchers in his draft class -- such as Dodgers top prospect Chad Billingsley -- with a tinge of "that could have been me" -- he's also been happy to complete three years toward his college degree while raising his own draft stock considerably.

"I see where Billingsley is at, and I can't lie -- I'm a little envious because there's a good chance he'll be pitching in the Dodgers rotation sooner rather than later," Miller said. "But I certainly can't complain about the situation I'm in right now."

With flame-throwing right-hander Daniel Bard (6-2, 3.69 ERA), who is also expected to be taken in the first round this June, and right-hander Robert Woodard (5-1, 3.21 ERA), who is more of a deceptive soft-tosser, as their weekend starters, the Tar Heels are in good shape with the ACC tournament and NCAA Regionals approaching.

Working in tandem with the pair of Bard and Woodard has also helped Miller.

"I get to watch Bard throw the ball as hard as anyone you'll find in the country, and then I get to watch Woodard throw not as hard as most people in the country, but get more outs than most of them," Miller said. "So I learn from the two different approaches they have, what works and what doesn't."

Said Fox: "Pitching is the name of the game at any level, so we're very fortunate to have three top-notch starters. We can control our own destiny, while in the past we had to depend on someone else to beat someone else."

And right now, the name of the pitching game at North Carolina is Andrew Miller.

All I can say is WOW! Best player in the draft (arguably, but I think he was). He obviously fell due to signability. The Tigers have played hardball with their last two top picks so it should be interesting to see how it pans out. Hopefully we can get him on the field ASAP to see how he progresses.

Andrew Miller entered this spring as the top-rated prospect for the 2006 draft and proceeded to live up to that lofty billing. The top unsigned player from the 2003 draft, when he was a third-round pick of the Devil Rays out of high school in Gainesville, Fla., Miller wound up at North Carolina and has improved every season, becoming more consistent and more dominant.

He dominated in the wood-bat Cape Cod League each of the last two summers (2.03 ERA in 2004, 1.65 ERA in 2005 for Chatham), and Baseball America rated him as the league's top prospect in both years. Miller put it all together this spring, leading the Tar Heels to the top of the national rankings by winning his first 10 decisions, including triumphs over nationally ranked opponents in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He did not allow an earned run in six of his first 12 starts and surrendered only three extra-base hits, and he didn't lose his first game until May 12. Miller became North Carolina's all-time strikeouts leader but had lost two of his last three starts.

At 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds, Miller has an ideal frame with a clean delivery and easy arm action. His fastball registers consistently in the 93-95 mph range and can touch the upper 90s. Miller also has a major league offering with a mid-80s slider with a sharp bite.

He can miss his spots at times and tends to be a bit wild in the strike zone, yet such criticism is nothing more than nitpicking. A more legitimate concern for scouts is that Miller's long, lanky body may lack the strength to allow him to be a workhorse starter or to maintain his stuff deep into starts. Similar issues affect his mechanics and could raise injury concerns as well.

Still, the consensus has Miller joining a rotation at the major league level as soon as 2007.